Troy

Yeah CD, many writers, including the most successful, write to a formula. They do parts two, three four, and then we also have to content with all the copy cats. The entire romance genre is formula driven. This is just how the industry works -- especially for us. The problem with all this sequels and copy cats is that it crowds out creativity and diversity. So when the first sista-girl novel hit we had to deal with several years of that. When street-lit started poppin' we had to deal with years of it almost to the exclusion of everything else. Again white folks have much more variety coming our of mainstream publishing. Sure self-published authors publish a variety of titles, but it is almost impossible for these books to find an audience as very few of them have any real money for advertising or promotion. Foreign born Black writers seems to be big right about now. They cross over more readily than Black American writers and are reviewed more frequently. Here is another comment about this book (sort of) "We were not aware this was just a money making venture, we love and read books and have book clubs of our own of which we buy all together from one source. If you want to make money and also black writers, send out a few FB posts highlighting recommendations for Book Clubs." Funny people have no problem if Facebook makes money. I'm also not sure why this person believe I don't share information about books that would be appropriate for book clubs.

LOL! I know, I know, no one want to read that stuff. Honestly I'm tried of trying to explain it and will probably eventually go back to focusing on myself -- besides it is the American anyway. Though I will share another Also, are you following the recent discovery in cosmology? Described as the greatest scientific discover... ever! Discover of the Higgs Boson pales in comparison.

http://aalbc.com/tc/index.php?/topic/2587-plug-in-to-this/?p=10802. I've been spending quite a bit of time, energy and even money trying to promote other business that promote and uplift Black people. This has been an UPHILL battle. Remarkably I've gotten more resistance than support. If I can't make anymore progress than I have in 2014. I think I will just join the fray; tell everyone to visit me on Facebook and start promoting books like, Why Every Black Woman Should Marry a Jewish Man. I post books information on Facebook almost daily. It takes a few seconds and brings a handful of people to the site, so I do it. Of course, all of positive stuff generates very little interest. But as soon as I start sharing information about something dumb, like this book (just my opinion), people start sharing, making comments and even questioning my commitment to Black folks. The cash register is ringing! Of course Facebook knows a winner, they see what up and prompted me to buy an advertisement to spread the "good news" more widely. My Why Every Black Woman Should Marry a Jewish Man post was performing better that 95% of all my other posts! It is SO much easier to promote this stuff. Sometimes I ask my self why don't I stop struggling and promote the stuff people ACTUALLY want to engage. People love controversy, they love negativity, they love scandal, they love stupidity, mix in a celebrity or two and you have a profitable business. I'm not just saying this--I have 17 years worth of data to support it. Sorry this had nothing to do with Jewish men scooping up the sistas. But I will leave you with one quote from Facebook: "The only people responsible for the disrespect of black men, is black men. Pants sagging, video game playing, 5 baby mama having, 40 drinking thugs. No thanks, duvorced [sic] my black husband in 2003, exclusively been w white men since and they treat me like a Queen." You go girl! Peace, Troy

I caught these ladies at a local library on Wednesday

Del, I presume you mean a new relationship. I was not aware that you were out of your other relationship. In any event, I'm sure it is all good. Congratulations.

Wow! I'm sure it will be an interesting read Cynique--better than the first. Funny though I don't have a clue what you are talking about regarding the people or the shows. I have heard of Steve Harvey, of course, but I have never seen his show. I have seen Maury's show (I think) wasn't;t he the one doing that paternity tests: "(fill in the name) you are the father!" That that was a long time ago. Is he still on?

Del! I trust all is well. I wish Feynman was alive today to to see what he could come up with knowing what we know about particle physics.

EPIC 5-HOUR CIVIL WAR SERIES SHINES NEW LIGHT ON CRUCIAL WESTERN THEATER & ROLE OF AFRICAN-AMERICANS AND GIVES POWERFUL INSIGHTS ON AMERICA AS A NATION—THEN AND NOW Narrated By Elizabeth McGovern, Featuring Top Historians & Rare Access to Original Battlegrounds for Authentic Cinematic Recreations New Series Premieres Nationally on Public Television Beginning April 2014 NASHVILLE, TN [March, 2014] – Civil War: The Untold Story is a visually stunning and absorbing new 5-hour documentary series that breaks new ground by examining the war through the lens of the Western Theater - battles in the strategic lands between the Appalachians and Mississippi River. Narrated by Elizabeth McGovern (Downton Abbey) the series premieres nationally on public television stations beginning in April 2014 (check local listings). Rather than revisit the oft-told stories of the battles of Bull Run, Antietam and Gettysburg in the eastern states of Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia, this gripping and comprehensive new series instead tells the stories of Shiloh, Vicksburg, Chickamauga, Atlanta, and other battles in lands then known as “the West.” Many historians believe that the Western Theater was where the war was won – and lost. In addition to the epic battles, Civil War: The Untold Story provides new insights into the relatively unknown roles African Americans played in the conflict – from enslaved to emancipated to soldier. Filmed in a sweeping cinematic style, Civil War: The Untold Story painstakingly recreates the battles of the Western Theater in a thoroughly authentic manner. Many scenes were filmed on the very grounds where these epic battles were fought, which add to the sheer magnitude of history felt throughout the films. The series also uses state-of-the-art 2D and 3D graphics, fascinating archival imagery, and incisive expert commentary by Civil War historians and scholars. Timed to coincide with the 150-year anniversary of the pivotal “Campaign for Atlanta,” the series also chronicles the presidential campaign of 1864 in which Abraham Lincoln was nearly defeated. In many ways, Civil War: The Untold Story can be considered a prequel to Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln.” Within the story of the Western Theater, the series highlights the causes of war, the home front, the politics of war, and the impact of war on Southern civilians and women. The authenticity of uniforms, voiceovers and scenery, makes it seemingly impossible to distinguish this modern adaptation from the actual war so many years ago. Civil War: The Untold Story is produced for public television by Great Divide Pictures, which, in addition to numerous cable television documentaries, has created more than 25 films shown in National Parks Visitor Centers around the country. The series is sponsored by Nashville Public Television and will be distributed to public television stations nationally by American Public Television (APT). “The film is not just about who we were then. It's about who we are now," said producer Chris Wheeler. “In a nation arguably as divided today as we were 150 years ago, Civil War: The Untold Story is a compelling, relevant program that we believe will strike a powerful chord with Americans today.” Interspersed are compelling on-camera interviews with some of America’s top Civil War historians – including Allen Guelzo, Henry R. Luce Professor of the Civil War Era at Gettysburg College; Peter Carmichael, Robert C. Fluhrer Professor of Civil War Studies at Gettysburg College; Amy Murrell Taylor, Associate Professor of History at the University of Kentucky; and Stacy Allen, the Chief Historian at Shiloh National Military Park. Episode 1 – Bloody Shiloh With the 1860 election of anti-slavery candidate Abraham Lincoln, thirteen states from the South secede and form the Confederate States of America. Union military leaders, along with Lincoln himself, realize that ending the rebellion rests on controlling the Mississippi River. In February 1862, Union forces, led by an obscure general named Ulysses S. Grant, establish a foothold in southern Tennessee near a simple log structure known as “Shiloh Church.” On April 6, 1862, a Confederate force of over 40-thousand, led by General Albert Sidney Johnston, launch a surprise attack on Grant. The fighting in the hellish terrain surrounding Shiloh is some of the most brutal of the entire war. By day’s end, victory is in sight for the attacking Confederates. But Johnston has been struck in the leg by a bullet, and bleeds to death in 20 minutes. The death of Johnston is a harbinger of a great change that will soon sweep over “Bloody Shiloh.” Episode 2 – A Beacon of Hope In the disaster at Shiloh, Union General Ulysses S. Grant sees victory. On the night of April 6, 1862, Grant’s beleaguered army along the Tennessee River is reinforced. The next morning, Grant’s counterattack leads to victory. The defeated Confederate force of 40-thousand retreats south to Corinth, Mississippi. At Shiloh, the Confederates lose arguably their best opportunity to change the outcome of the war. The shocking combined casualties of 24-thousand men is more than in all the wars fought to that date in the United States. Many of the nearly 4 million slaves across the South see the war as an opportunity to seize their own destiny. Thousands of escaping slaves, dubbed ‘contrabands’, seek refuge with Union forces advancing into the South. At Corinth, Mississippi, the Union army sets up a ‘contraband camp.’ The former slaves begin building a community that includes a school, hospital, and church. As thousands of slaves flee northward, the question asked all over America is this: are they still slaves or are they now free? In a cottage overlooking Washington DC, Abraham Lincoln begins drafting a “proclamation” whose message will boldly answer that question. Episode 3 – River of Death Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation does not only free slaves in the rebelling states. It changes the war from one of reunification, to one of ending slavery. The Emancipation Proclamation also gives African Americans freedom to fight. By war’s end, some 200,000 will enlist. In truth, Lincoln’s proclamation is an empty promise without the power of the United States Army to enforce it. In 1863, Ulysses S. Grant begins a campaign to take Vicksburg, Mississippi, a Confederate citadel overlooking a strategic section of the lower Mississippi River. In May, Grant begins laying siege to the city of 4500. Mary Loughborough is one of the many terrified civilians who have dug caves into the hillsides for protection. Clutching her 2-year old daughter, Mary “endeavored by constant prayer to prepare myself for the sudden death I was almost certain awaited me.” On July 4, 1863 – the day after Pickett’s disastrous charge at Gettysburg – the Confederates surrender Vicksburg to Grant. With the Mississippi River now under Union control, the campaign moves eastward to Chattanooga, Tennessee, a rail center that Lincoln considers to be as important as the Confederate capital of Richmond. Eight miles south, along the Chickamauga - a creek the Cherokee call “the river of death” - Union and Confederate forces clash in what will become the biggest battle of the Western Theater. Episode 4 – Death Knell of the Confederacy September 19, 1863. The first day of the Battle of Chickamauga ends in a bloody draw. On the next day, the battle is determined by one of the biggest blunders of the Civil War. Miscommunication, confusion, and fatigue with Union General William Rosecrans and his generals have left a gap in the Union line more than a quarter mile wide. James Longstreet’s force of 11,000 from the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, pour through the gap and split the Union army in two. Rosecrans and his beaten army escape to Chattanooga. Chickamauga’s combined casualties of 34,000 are only topped by the carnage at Gettysburg. In October, Rosecrans is replaced by U.S. Grant, who immediately plans an offensive. In November 1863, Grant routes the Confederate stronghold just outside Chattanooga. As they escape southward into Georgia, a Confederate officer calls the devastating defeat: “the death knell of the Confederacy.” Episode 5 – With Malice Toward None In the spring of 1864, General William Tecumseh Sherman’s force of 100-thousand men marches from Chattanooga toward Atlanta, Georgia, the industrial hub of the Deep South. Twenty miles north of Atlanta, Sherman’s army is soundly defeated at Kennesaw Mountain. Sherman’s defeat combined with Grant’s stalemate in Virginia, enrages a Northern electorate already weary of war. The presidential election is in November, and Abraham Lincoln’s chances for a second term are dwindling by the day. The Democrats nominate George McClellan. The party’s platform calls for a negotiated peace with the Confederacy in which slaveholders will be allowed to keep their property. If McClellan is elected, Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation will almost certainly be struck down. Though victorious at Kennesaw Mountain, the outnumbered Confederate Army falls back to a defensive position at Atlanta. After 6 weeks of bloody conflicts around Atlanta, Sherman wires Washington: “Atlanta is ours and fairly won.” For the first time in the war, many in the North now believe victory can be achieved. Eight weeks later, the president defeats McClellan in a landslide. After the election, Sherman begins his March to the Sea. The largely unopposed march across Georgia to Savannah is a psychological blow to the Confederacy, and a stunning conclusion to the Western Theater. About Great Divide Pictures: The series is produced and directed by Chris Wheeler of Great Divide Pictures (greatdividepictures.com). For more than 20 years, Great Divide has been producing award-winning historical documentaries including: How the West Was Lost, Our Time in Hell: the Korean War, and Godspeed, John Glenn which was narrated by Walter Cronkite. Additionally, Great Divide has recently produced Visitor Center films for more than 25 National Parks, including Shiloh National Military Park, Chickamauga/Chattanooga National Military Park, and Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park. About American Public Television (APT) has been a leading distributor of high-quality, top-rated programming to America’s public television stations since 1961. In 2010, APT distributed nearly half of the top 100 highest-rated public television titles. Among its 300 new program titles per year are prominent documentaries, news and current affairs programs, dramatic series, how-to programs, children’s series and classic movies, including For Love of Liberty: The Story of America’s Black Patriots, A Ripple of Hope, Rick Steves' Europe, Newsline, Globe Trekker, Simply Ming, America's Test Kitchen From Cook’s Illustrated, Lidia's Italy, P. Allen Smith's Garden Home, Murdoch Mysteries, Doc Martin, Rosemary & Thyme, The Rat Pack: Live and Swingin’, Johnny Mathis: Wonderful, Wonderful! and John Denver: The Wildlife Concert. APT also licenses programs internationally through its APT Worldwide service. In 2006, APT launched Create® – the TV channel featuring the best of public television's lifestyle programming. APT is also a partner in the WORLD™ channel expansion project including its web presence at WORLDcompass.org. For more information about APT’s programs and services, visit APTonline.org. For more information on Create, visit CreateTV.com. About Nashville Public Television: Nashville Public Television, Nashville’s PBS station, is available free and over-the-air to nearly 2.4 million people throughout the Middle Tennessee and southern Kentucky viewing area, through its main NPT and secondary NPT2 channels, and to anyone in the world through its stable of NPT Digital services, including wnpt.org, YouTube and the PBS video app. The mission of NPT is to provide, through the power of traditional television and interactive digital communications, high quality educational, cultural and civic experiences that address issues and concerns of the people of the Nashville region, and which thereby help improve the lives of those we serve.

Here is a link to Keoni's book: http://aalbc.it/triumpbook

It looks like Amazon is raising the price of their prime service to $99, but it is still available for $79 for a year. Click this link for a 30 Day Free Trial (This is an affiliate link I get $2 if you do the free trail). I don't personally recommend things unless I use it or actually support it. I have been a prime member for a few years. On one hand I complain that Amazon is essentially the only place left where you can buy a Black book and on the other hand I suggest, and use, a service that feasts the beast exacerbating the problem. A hypocrite, I know. Fighting the Amazon's, Googles, and Facebooks of the worlds is a uphill, thankless, and frustrating battle. The old line, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em is just so much easier. That said, Amazon Prime provides me with two main benefits; (1) free shipping. Now Amazon does not always have the best prices for a given product, but few offer free shipping which is a big deal if you make a lot of purchases online; and (2) The free streaming movies is something I use quite a bit. You also get a bunch of free Kindle titles But I have actually never taken advantage of this feature after years of review, I'm see now that I prefer Physical books.

Really! Did you actually get to meet your grandfather? I just find it so fascinating that a person could enslave their child. The was one story related above when a former slave described how he was treated much better than his other siblings, also children of the salve holder, because he looked white, he was still enslaved, but he was a house negro has opposed to being forced to work the field. Cynique, I ran a search for your Granfather: Elijah Donaldson Merrill That was the only result.

The Twelfth National Black Writers Conference I know I'm preaching to the choir when I say this is one of this nation's premier events. They have hosted two of the three of the Black Nobel Laureates. Wole Soyinka of Nigeria, the first black person to win the Nobel Prize for Literature (1986) Derek Walcott of Saint Lucia won the Nobel in 1992 and will be honored and will attend the 2014 conference and participate in several events. Toni Morrison, the only Black woman to win a Nobel Prize in 1993. She attended and was honored by the Center for Black literature in 2012

This is just powerful. If you have not seen this or read these stories check it out now. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnQqSlWHHgQ Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives is a riveting compilation of more than forty narratives drawn from interviews with former slaves conducted in the 1930s by the government's Works Progress Administration. This book is an adaptation of HBO's documentary special for 2003 (the video above). From slave auctions to emancipation, the narratives trace the extraordinary experiences of lives spent in slavery.

Cynique when you spoke about Neil Degrass Tyson in it made me think of Richard Feynman. He is just a fascinating dude.

That first paragraph was cute. Wikipedia is effectively Google or rather Wikipedia is Google's biotch. You probably would have enjoyed this film: PARTICLE FEVER. I saw it in the theater on Friday. It was more heavily weighted on the Human interest aspect of the experimentalists and theorists. I was hoping it would explain more of the science. In the end it was pretty interesting. One thing I did notice My wife and I were the only Black people in the theater and there were no Black folks in the film

Mzuri, glad to see your name pop up! Thanks for the kind words :-)

This was the decision that Reuters reported on last November. "Google made unauthorized digital editions of nearly all of the world's valuable copyright-protected literature and profits from displaying those works," Aiken said. "Such mass digitization and exploitation far exceeds the bounds of the fair use defense." --Paul Aiken Those with the biggest and baddest computers make all the money. The content provider gets nothing. It seems to me that Google would be willing to share some of the money they make with the people who created the stuff they are selling. Google would have no "value" to provide otherwise.

I did not watch the full interview. In this clip he Wayne appears to be a very normal guy particularly when you consider how long his has been locked up and knowing he will never be a free man Now this guys is scary http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFQpblt2yvw And this guys is nuts, and he seems to know he is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LYL1PTrtXo

Chris, of course by linking to other website people will view you as a resource. For example, I can't possibly cover every book, so I link them to other places. In the Black book world, increasingly, there are fewer and fewer places to send people. I doubt there are any other Black book websites generating enough revenue to live on. Given the number of Black people publishing books this is a crying shame!

...someone else picks you up. This evening I was going through my mail and found a newspaper with this article. African American Books and Culture Invigorate Culture, The author Marie Sheahan Brown, did an excellent job researching my articles, even having a video interview transcribed to pull together a two page article which genuinely captures the spirit of what I'm trying to do and also express the importance of bookstores. Thank you Marie. Small Business Exchange, Inc. http://sbenortheast.com/ Small Business Exchange Northeast is a monthly print and electronic publication covering opportunities and resources for small business. It delivers a mix of breaking small business news stories, legislative updates, financial resources, marketing tips, bid and sub-bid opportunities. The focus is small (minority- woman-disadvantaged- disabled veteran-owned businesses) throughout the Northeastern part of the US. [i paraphrase]

You can read the details here. When I saw this I admit I was pissed. But then I had to ask myself why this would piss me off. This is a trivial slight perhaps done by a know-nothing-unpaid-intern. I mean I have taken some abuse and have even gotten a death threat running this site, that angered me less, so why did this bother me? I thought about it for a second. The answer is pretty simple. I'm very frustrated than Black websites have still not figured out how to work together. In this instance in the interest of self-preservation, through ignorance, Ebony Magazine has flagged my post as spam. They could have simply not allowed it to be seen. They did not have to choose to twist the knife. I'm done with them and will continue to seek other Black businesses to support, perhaps one that will some modicum of appreciation or--God forbid--reciprocation. We have a looong way to go....

Name the website that has articles with these titles prominently displayed on their homepage (March 5, 2014)? How Black Parents Would React If We Sued for Child Support Florida KKK Recruiter: ‘We Don’t Beat Up on Blacks or Burn Crosses’ Seriously, Chelsea Handler? You’re Going With the ‘Black Boyfriend’ Defense? Lupita’s Spotlight: A Reality Check for Light-Skinned Women? I'll give you a hint: One of its founders, is Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. Here are the article titles that were pushed by the very same site just 5 years ago (March 3 2009) Nationalize Detroit, Too: The bailout isn't enough and won't work. The Political Decline of the White Male? A Faith-Based Fix Obama’s Not-So-Bold AIDS Czar Pick

LOL! that is a good question. Jaron's book, the only one I completed so far, offers solutions. He suggests that the Facebook's of the world pay people for their participation and their data. How much is my home address worth? How much is whereabouts during the day worth? How much is what I spend at a restaurant worth? All of this information has value shouldn't we share in some of it? Black folk tweet like crazy. If there were no tweets Twitter would have no value, there would be no one to target ads. Why shouldn't Twitter pay the people who supply that labor that gives the site so much value? Bing actually pays folks to use their search engine I got a $5 gift card the other day from Bing, for looking at a couple of ads and using their search and I don't even use it that much. Amazon pays you for sending people to their website. It is all about sharing....something. As much money as Google make off us they should being paying us. Why people use Gmail and allow Google to mine their emails for data boggles my mind! You email your buddy writing that your friend Dick is softening up in his old age, then you start seeing VIagra ads all over the place. And your wife starts seeing ads for Match.com

Yeah Kam wrote about Ridley's article "The Manifesto of Ascendancy for the Modern American Nigger" Esquire Magazine, December 2006, Volume 146, Issue 6 "We get a good idea of exactly why the untalented Mr. Ridley, a failed stand-up comic, is an advocate for the epithet in his Esquire article where he makes liberal use of the patently-offensive term. Repeatedly referring to impoverished blacks as "niggers," because of the high unemployment, incarceration and out-of-wedlock birth rates in the 'hood, he never once pauses to reflect on the exploitative and marginalizing societal forces which have consciously collaborated to strand the bulk of the black community in a virtually-inescapable cycle of inhumane living conditions for generation after generation." I don't know if Kam's view of Ridley's talent has softened but Kam clearly disagreed to with Ridleys position on the use of the N-word and other issues. The other thing I noticed and reads a few comments about is how all of the Black mean that won are not married to Black woman. Neither Ridley or McQueen's are married to sisters. When you consider their marriage partners and the silly beef they have between to each other, despite the great success, it really does give much more credence to the crab-in-the-barrel mentality often ascribed to Black people. Put another way Black people simply do not like other Black people. I'm not trying to exaggerate with that last statement. If we do like each other, as a group of people, we have a weird way of showing it.

Sooo are you saying Woodie Allen is a not a degenerate and that Mia Farrow is more nuts than Woodie? I have not been following their story, just hearing incomplete sensational pieces here and there. It would be a shame if Woodie is a complete victim of Mia and the press.